Do people just not know what photoshop is?

[Aerozord]

I see so many examples of this every day on social media. People share a picture, or a video about how amazing, horrible, interesting, impressive, whatever. Always taking what they see as fact and I'm sitting here thinking, do they not know about editing? How effortless it is to alter a picture of a facebook post or a sign to say whatever you want. Basic editing tricks to do just about anything in a video.

Shouldn't people's default response to things like this be skepticism and not blind trust?

[MSperoni]

If people's default response to things was skepticism and mistrust a lot of the world wouldn't be as it is.

[Aerozord]

If people's default response to things was skepticism and mistrust a lot of the world wouldn't be as it is.

Normally I'd agree, because yea you need trust. Its that most of these things are about negative stuff. If it was something like people going "cool magic trick" I would just go, probably fake but whatever. But its often more about slander. Altering photos to make people look cruel, stupid, irresponsible, hurt, ect.

Really my issue is people have an easier time believing someone is a stereotype even cartoonishly evil or incompetent than that someone just edited a picture.

[Flarecobra]

If that were true, Fox News would've gone under a long time ago.

[Red Mage Black]

That's a real pity there, but lets not forget CNN, MSNBC and Al-Jazeera on that list.

[MSperoni]

I use a Magic 8-ball for keeping up with my news.

Maybe it's a Magic 8-ball. It could just be a cue-ball that's been photoshopped.

[Aerozord]

Remember when news sources did fact checking?

[Marc v4.0]

No

[MSperoni]

Me neither and I'm probably the oldest one here.

I felt like for awhile CNN at least tried. Like 10ish years ago.

[Aerozord]

neither do I, but lets pretend journalistic integrity existed.

[Red Mage Black]

I believe at one point in history, way far back beyond our generation, there was a such thing. It's all about sensationalism and pandering to special interest groups/political parties now.

[MSperoni]

People believe shit that conforms to their personal biases because that's easier than cross-referencing and researching and running the risk of having to swallow your pride and admit you may be wrong/misguided.

Being constantly reinforced by an authority figure, regardless of how qualified they are, gives some people comfort. Black and white issues. Useless labels that set up an "Us vs Them" situation. It's an easy way of livin'!

The problem is when those organizations inspire/enable hate groups and then don't take responsibility for what they say or make an effort to denounce it. They claim to be "news" when they're obviously just entertainment junk...They don't care about the consequences of what they say, they only care about the ratings/hits/money.

Then again...ratings/hits/money is kinda their point of existing...

But...as for reputable journals...Uhhh... I guess the Farmer's Almanac is probably reputable? "it's going to be sunny in June" Not a real spin there. But does that even count as news? :D

I believe at one point in history, way far back beyond our generation, there was a such thing. It's all about sensationalism and pandering to special interest groups/political parties now.

No it was pretty much the exact same in Washington's time just not as insane because there wasn't television. :)

I mean all those calls for freedom/rebellion that the Founding Fathers were famous for were mostly published in pamphlets and newspapers. And there were pro-British newspapers too. The reason we don't pay much attention to the pro-British ones is because we won the war (or Britain got tired of it and pulled their forces out, however you wanna look at it).

"History is determined by the winners" they say.

'course I can't remember the names of any of these newspapers since it's been ages since I read John Adams, and my other Revolutionary Period stuff, but...that kinda thing existed. It's nothing new. And it's nothing America-exclusive either.

And Lincoln wasn't even about emancipation till into his second term because he needed to get elected and it was a hot-button issue and he needed all the votes he could get.

Is it so hard for people to not be self-righteous hateful dicks to each other? IS IT SO HARD?!*


*yes

[rpgdemon]

"The news is always correct, except for the rare story that you happen to have first hand knowledge of."

[Karrrrrrrrrrrresche]

I believe at one point in history, way far back beyond our generation, there was a such thing. It's all about sensationalism and pandering to special interest groups/political parties now.

Yeah, na.
Like MSperoni said this goes back way way farther than that. You could even stretch the politicization of information farther back than what we would consider news today. Just looking at the Catholic Church's history with misinformation is a treat for that.

By which I mean things like their stints in things like selling Endulgences or charging the nations of Europe with crusading as a ticket to heaven and not as a commentary on the whole of their belief system.

[Seil]

Cracked devoted some space to that guy: (http://www.cracked.com/article_16605_the-8-most-obnoxious-internet-commenters.html)

Typical Comment

"FAKE! Did you see how that guy exploded just BEFORE he hit the tree. Fake, don't waste my time."

Who Are They?

They like to think of themselves as the jaded skeptic in a world full of gullible sheeple, determined to be a flickering light of truth in a dark internet full of lies and fake viral videos. "No one could really fart on a birthday cake that way!"

Why We Hate Them:

The guys we're talking about here are the knee-jerk skeptics, the ones who take it too far. They have an automatic reaction to call "fake" on pretty much any video that shows anything remotely remarkable happening. They're not doing it in some grand quest for truth, they just want to feel smarter than the room and generally suck all of the wonder out of the world.

This is the internet, if we want to believe some dudes can catch sunglasses on their face like that, who are they to take that from us, dammit!

[Aerozord]

Its not like our only two options are blind belief or unflinching skeptic. One should approach all information with the belief it could be true but no way to be certain that it is. Best we can do is hedge our bets.